City Hall: Pork supply enough

CEBU, Philippines — Residents of Cebu City are assured of enough meat supply for the Christmas holidays despite the recent ban on the entry of live hogs, pork and other pork products from Iloilo and the rest of Panay island because of the threat of African Swine Fever.

“Maka-sustain ra ta until December. So ayaw kabalaka, naa ra tay lechon sa noche buena,” said city veterinarian Jessica Maribojoc during a forum hosted by the City Public Information Office.

Dr. Edelito Galaura, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) Public Health Division, said that Cebu is not selling its pork products to other provinces at the moment to prevent shortage.

Cebu is also getting supply of hogs for its lechon industry from Negros Oriental. However, certification from the provincial veterinary office is required for entry to Cebu.

Maribojoc said DVMF is implementing stricter border control to make sure that ASF could not enter the province.

As ordered by Mayor Michael Rama, the city government has adopted the executive order no. 42 of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia banning the entry of live pigs, pork and pork products from Iloilo City and the entire Panay island following a suspected case of ASF in the area. The ban took effect last week and will last until December 12, 2022.

Maribojoc said Cebu City is aligning with the province in guarding against the entry of ASF as Central Visayas is now the only remaining region in the country with no reported case of the disease.

Maribojoc thanked the Regional Quarantine Service for also assigning personnel at the ports and in the mountain gateways to set up checkpoints to monitor the entry of meat products.

Consumers are also encouraged to help protect the local hog industry by always making sure that they buy only meat with inspection certificates.

“Mopalit mo og karne pangitaan ninyo nga naay meat inspection certificate, kay nagpaila na nga na-inspect na,”Maribojoc said.

Although ASF is not harmful to people but the virus is highly contagious and causes very high mortality among hogs. Maribojoc said the ASF virus can stay in infected meat for up to 1,000 days and dies only when exposed to very high temperatures, particularly during incineration.

If a farm is hit with ASF case, all hogs within its 500-meter radius should be subjected to depopulation or “total elimination”.

On the other hand, Galauro has reminded travelers not to insist on bringing pork products from outside Cebu.

“Naay mo-insist ipasulod ilang produkto, kay ngano man lagi nakalusot ra sa ilang point of origin. Among ingnon nga kung nakalusot na didto, diri dili mo makalusot…Naay uban gikan sa laing isla, nagdala og karne, humba, amo gyud na i-confiscate… We have to protect the hog industry within Cebu Province. Apil na ang Cebu City ana,” Galauro said. (FREEMAN)